The Soil & Corrupted Land
DIG JUST BELOW THE SURFACE AND THERE IS DIRT!
This is the state of our soil in the UK. We have a VERY PRECIOUS RESOURCE (Especially at BRANDHALL GOLF COURSE) right here in Sad-unwell, and we need to protect it, forever.
We will show you why and then you will see how.
T.H.E. Change Has Come - The Hive Effect
FIRST - THE BIGGER PICTURE
HOW IMPORTANT IS UK SOIL
STATE OF THE ENVIRONMENT
Soil is an important natural capital resource. It provides us with many essential services.
Soil biodiversity and the many biological processes and soil functions that it supports are thought to be under threat.
There are insufficient data on the health of our soils. Investment is needed in soil monitoring.
In England and Wales:
almost 4 million hectares of soil are at risk of compaction
over 2 million hectares of soil are at risk of erosion
intensive agriculture has caused arable soils to lose about 40 to 60% of their organic carbon
soil degradation was calculated in 2010 to cost £1.2 billion every year
UK Parliament Publication
Compaction and the loss of organic carbon are serious threats to soil health. They affect agricultural production and our resilience to climate change. UK soils currently store about 10 billion tonnes of carbon. This is roughly equal to 80 years of annual UK greenhouse gas emissions.
Wasting food and growing crops for bioenergy are putting additional pressure on soils.
Spreading of some materials to land is poorly controlled and can give rise to contamination. Some 300,000 hectares are contaminated in the UK.
Microplastics are widespread in soil with unknown consequences.
Looking Ahead
Soil has been overlooked in environment policy in recent decades. However, the government’s 25 Year Environment Plan states that:
England’s soils must be managed sustainably by 2030
steps must be taken towards restoring the UK’s soils
A new system of public money for public goods will reward farmers for environmental outcomes such as emphasising healthy soils. There is a huge opportunity if the new Environmental Land Management scheme is properly funded to incentivise farmers by rewarding them for protecting and regenerating soils.
Contamination of soils is often thought to be a thing of the past. However, new and emerging chemicals and waste management practices bring new regulatory challenges and environmental risks. The first step towards understanding these risks and challenges is to understand our soils and how they’re changing.
The Report
Soil is an important natural capital resource, providing many essential services, as highlighted recently by the Natural Capital Committee. These include:
supplying a suitable environment and conditions to grow food.
reducing the risk of flooding by absorbing water.
filtering water.
absorbing and reducing pollutants regulating our climate and gases in the atmosphere.
providing habitat for soil dwelling organisms and their associated services such as pest control and pollination.
protecting cultural heritage.
providing raw materials.
the potential for new life saving medicines.
The Guardian
Despite only 14% of English rivers meeting the criteria for "good" ecological status, 43% of people questioned in a new survey believe that Britain’s freshwater systems are in good condition.
However, the Troubled Waters report for a coalition of charities, including the RSPB, the National Trust and the Rivers Trust, reveals how even wildlife-rich protected wetlands and rivers are threatened by pollution, while restoring water quality is hampered by a lack of effective monitoring and enforcement.
LOCAL SOIL FACTS
ARE WE STILL THIS CHAOTIC?
Soil Sealing
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Soil Sealing is the destruction or covering of soils by buildings, constructions and layers of completely or partly impermeable artificial material such as tarmac and concrete. It is the most intense form of land take and it is essentially an irreversible process.
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Soil contamination is the occurrence of contaminants in soil above a certain level causing deterioration or loss of one or more soil functions.
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‘Point pollution’ is caused by a specific event or series of events to a particular place, such as a former factory site. This is relatively well mapped and understood.
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‘Diffuse pollution’ involves low levels of contaminants spread over very wide areas that become lodged in the soil as it acts as a sink. This is difficult to analyse and track.
CORRUPTED LAND
CORRUPTED LANDS
BRANDHALL GOLF COURSE - EARMARKED FOR HOUSING
BIG PRIVATE HOUSES FOR THE RICH LANDLORDS, THE CORRUPT AND THE GREEDY
There is so much to say about Brandhall Golf Course that we have only scratched the surface with the information provided on this website so far.
However, even the suggestion of developing it is the most corrupt idea to ever fall out of the mouths of Sandwell "council".
IT IS ONE OF THE ONLY PLACES LEFT IN SANDWELL THAT HAS NOT BEEN POLLUTED BY THE TOXIC WASTE OF THE PAST.
BUILD ELSEWHERE
THE BILLIES PENNCRICKET LANE - ASHES ROAD - SOLD
LAND SOLD OFF. WERE YOU AWARE? WOULD YOU HAVE BOUGHT IT?
PEOPLE - YOU HAVE BEEN ROBBED & YOU DIDN'T EVEN KNOW!
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Did you know or were you ever aware that ANY of this land was private?
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Did you know it was for sale or that it was ever for sale?
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Did you know that THE BILLIES WAS FOR SALE?
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Did you know that it was all public land?
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Did you ever have your horses thrown off by the council for keeping them on PUBLIC LAND?
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Did you ever have your horses thrown off the ALLOTMENT by the railway bridge on Penncricket Lane?
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Did you even know that there was once an allotment on Penncricket Lane?
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Did you know that a big swathe of it has been sold to private developers?
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Did you get the opportunity to buy it?
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Did you even know it was for sale?
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Would you have bought it?
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HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK IT IS WORTH?
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HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK THAT IT SOLD FOR?
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WHO DO RECKON SOLD IT AND WHO DO YOU RECKON PURCHASED IT?
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Have you lived in the area all of your life and wonder what the hell is going on?
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Do you think this is dodgy?
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Do you want to dig into this and take a look to see what else you will uncover in the underhanded world of Sandwell Council?
Help us to change this. Help us to save our open spaces and we will transform them beyond your imagination. Sign our petition now.
THE BILLIES - WHAT WE WERE TRYING TO DO
Create A Space That Transforms Every Open Space in Our Area
A community garden like no other. The kind of open spaces that you see everywhere else except for here. This one would have actually been used and it would have had purpose. BUT AS PER USUAL, WE GET LEFT THE TOXIC DREGGS AND HAVE TO BE THANKFUL FOR THEM.
From beehives to polytunnels, and fungus to water filter beds, tea rooms to therapeutic areas, educational hands-on learning and so much more.
It would have been the starting point for establishing tree saplings, shrubs and hedges for the parks, fruit trees, shrubs and herbs for the edible gardens.
It would have inspired children to see and do so much more than sit in front of a screen or on a phone. In beesuits. On bikes. Eating fresh food. Socialising safely. It would probably have created a job or two and maybe inspire some local entrepreneurs that there is a world outside this shit hole.
It would have transformed The Billies into a place completely beyond your imagination. Nothing like the crap we have had since these estates were built (and most of that was left to us by others).
Dog-walkers, bike-riders, BMXer's, Skaters, Commuters, bench-sitters, wanderers, walkers, joggers, and fish-headers, painters, creators, inventors, and teachers, gardeners, botanists, growers, scientists, investigators, visionaries, environmentalists, with engineers, designers, musicians, artists would have all been catered for. Old people, young people, all people, from all walks of life, from everywhere regardless of anything, would have been proud to have met one another.
It would have generated free electricity and provided a lit pathway from Penncricket Lane to Ashes Road with CCTV for safety.
People would have truly loved this park. It has meant so much to us that lived here in one of the most deprived area of Sandwell, this pile of rubble has.
HELP US TO HOLD THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR HEALTH AND WELLBEING TO ACCOUNT
SUPPORT US IN FORCING THE POSITIVE CHANGES THAT WE HAVE BEEN REPEATEDLY DENIED FOR DECADE
COINCIDENCE? - NO! CORRUPTION? - IT SEEMS THAT WAY
WE APPLIED OVER 6 YEARS AGO FOR THIS LAND AND...SANDUNWELL COUNCIL SOLD IT INSTEAD!
When we applied for this land, Sandwell Council were not even aware that they owned it!
The reasons for this were that it had not been catalogued or registered digitally and the people responsible for carrying out this task (the only people who knew of the lands) had retired during that time. Therefore this parcel of land was forgotten until WE found documents confirming the previous allotment status of the land, and the ownership belonging to Sandwell Council.
We applied to the Land Registry and purchased the documents that show the boundaries of the allotment, the railway boundaries and the Billies boundaries. All of it owned by Sandwell Council.
WE TOLD THEM!
WE KNEW IT WAS RISKY!
WE EVEN TOLD THEM IN OUR LETTERS AT THE TIME, THAT IT WAS RISKY IN US TELLING THEM!
WE TOLD THEM THAT NOW IT WAS KNOWN ABOUT THAT IT WAS AT RISK FROM ITS OWN COUNCIL!
WE KNEW SOMEONE IN SANDWELL COUNCIL WOULD HAVE THEIR EYES ON IT.
WE KNEW IT WOULD BE SOLD.
WE TOLD THEM IT WOULD BE SOLD.
SANDUNWELL COUNCIL IS ANYTHING BUT "WELL". IT IS AN ABOMINATION OF THE WORD.
For 10 years we have been denied access to the land to start our environmental regeneration project that is aimed at making our lives in this dump better.
NOW IT HAS BEEN SOLD! FOR GREED. NO OTHER PURPOSE OTHER THAN GREED.
WE WEREN'T EVEN OFFERED IT. WE WEREN'T EVEN TOLD IT WAS FOR SALE!
LIARS, THIEVES AND CONMEN.
IT IS NOT COINCIDENCE AND SOMEONE JUST MADE A WHOLE LOT OF MONEY AT OUR EXPENSE FOR PROFIT & GREED
The change starts here. The Hive Effect.
The Back of The Billies - Cakemore canal arm
BYE BYE DRAGONFLY!
This area was once the Cakemore arm of Titford Canal network until it was cut off during the construction of the M5 motorway, leaving it isolated and abandoned. As kids we used to play over there, and by then the old canal had become a bog land and marshland full of reeds and the brook, or The River Tame, that ran alongside it, had sloping soil banks with trees and shrubs all the way along both sides.
It was full of frogs and toads and newts, but the one thing that stood out the most was the dragonflies. There was not another place for miles around where you could see even one dragonfly, yet here, you could just turn up and watch them hunt! There were so many dragonflies, and some of them where so huge that you could hear the alternate wing beats. There were bats, hedgehogs and foxes too, but now look at it. It is gone forever, and for what?
GRAFTON ROAD ALLOTMENT
We are sick of asking, only to be told "they're in use"!
Who's got an allotment then? Seriously, who has an allotment on Grafton Road?
Grafton Road has an allotment. It is another corrupt story from the Sandwell Legacy. It was used, then just as it was about to be closed, an 8ft palisade fence and gates were erected, then it was abandoned. So we asked Sandwell Council to reopen it, or let us, on several occasions throughout our miserable lives here, and we were told the same thing every time; "it is in use by someone". Sandunwell Council deprive us this much.
Let's be totally honest, we have 50 allotments this side of the Wolverhampton Road, so corrupt just doesn't even begin to describe it. Someone needs to answer for this.
LION FARM FIELDS - IS THERE A BETTER WAY OR HAVE WE JUST SOLD OUT?
This field is the only thing Lion Farm has ever had, since day 1.
We are not against progress, but we are against progress at any cost. There has to be a balance, and we live in an age where we can achieve anything, so let us achieve something extraordinary - together.
Remember, these are OUR only fields, so if they are sacrificed, then local people and the community should benefit first. If development is required for economical progress, then that must relate to local jobs, local training, and future local prospects before anyone and anything else. And that is a LOT of jobs
The fields (or open space) doesn't have to be lost. In fact, a more bio-diverse environment could possibly be achieved with intelligent construction, using vertical garden and rooftop garden designs for example, that allow for a broader diversity of plants, and wildlife.
At the other end of the scale, we still have to have space, we still need parks, we still need more allotments, we still need our social club back, we still need places for our children and our communities to meet and thrive, we still need major investment, and if Sandwell Council cannot provide that, then either we will make it work ourselves, or we will make the developers pay for the lot!
IF DEVELOPERS WANT OUR PRIME LAND, THEN THEY CAN PAY PREMIUM FOR IT AND SANDWELL COUNCIL SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO TOUCH THAT MONEY WITH THEIR STICKY FINGERS.
SALOP DRIVE IS A WASTE OF SPACE
YOU MAY AS WELL BUILD HOUSES HERE
To put it bluntly, it's another complete farce, and further proof that on the north-side of the A4123 they have and waste far too many resources. Graham, founder of The Hive Effect, has been battling to put his own private polytunnels and beehives on a very small, old allotment site at The Billies on Penncricket Lane, for public use, for over 6 years. Now, AS IF BY MAGIC, the allotments have been MYSTERIOUSLY sold, and the beehives are still cluttered up in his greenhouse.
The facilities on the Salop Drive allotment are superb. There are several Polytunnels - empty or full of junk. There is a heated greenhouse - empty. There are toilets, a classroom, a community garden and more, just stood there.
The only consistent positive at the site are the resident beekeeper and his beehives!
It is not exactly IDEAL FOR ALL, is it? We treasure our project and our people, and it is for reasons like this, that our spaces will not go to waste and our people will not suffer as a consequence. It is also the reason that no person will lay a single brick on Brandhall Golf Course without full-scale confrontation. The world can watch as we identify the root cause.
PARK KEEPERS HOUSES
Where did all of these go?
We wonder how our park keepers houses have been sold off, just like this one, which is at the Green Flag Awarded Barnford Park, on the other side of the A4123.
The land was presented to the Borough of Oldbury in 1915 by Mr W. A. Albright of Albright and Wilson, the chemical manufacturer, one of the largest Oldbury firms. A plaque on the Park Keeper’s House commemorated this event, recording that Mr Albright presented the Park to the Borough of Oldbury -
'FOR THE USE OF THE PUBLIC FOREVER'.
So how did it come to be sold? Who sold it? Who purchased it?
If it can be turned into a viable business as a childrens nursery, then surely the people whom it belonged to should benefit. Surely some of them would have jumped at the chance for a job in a community nursery? Food for thought.
Check back here for a growing list of useful, much needed, community buildings that have been sold.
MEANWHILE, THE NORTH-SIDE OF THE A4123
They have so many parks and natural spaces that they can let them go to waste.
The Most Precious Resource On Earth
THEY RUINED IT, AND WE HAVE TO BEG TO SAVE IT! EARTHLINGS?
Ecological Importance
Small freshwater streams and brooks are a vital part of most ecosystems in the UK. They support a wide range of mammal, amphibian, bird, insect, plant and funga life, that has evolved over millennia to survive and thrive in them. The banks range from gradual grass slopes that fall into the water, to more vertical banks that are created by plants with more complex root systems, keeping everything in place next to the water, preventing soil erosion.
This is home to small insects and amphibians that use the sediments left by the more gentle flow of water to hide from predators and raise their young. Until we killed them.
Ecological Disaster
Sandwell is the Number 1 area in England with the most toxic landfills with potentially hazardous waste per square km.
That is 1 Toxic, Hazardous Landfill Site per 6.11 Square KM.
3 OF THEM ARE ON ROWLEY HILL
Take a look at WHAT LIES BENEATH RATTLECHAIN LAGOON a website dedicated to it. It is all around you, it is all around us.
SANDWELL? WELL? IN WHAT SENSE OF THE WORD ARE WE WELL? HOW WILL BUILDING HOUSES MAKE US BETTER?
Ecological Advocacy
Advocacy is an essential pillar of our Environmental Protection Movement here at The Hive Effect. There is strength in numbers, and we work to inform and encourage others to take a stand for what they know to be true and for what they believe in. Join us in our mission to create more biodiverse communities, starting right here in our home, Sand Un-Well.
When you thought nothing could be done, we gave you a foundation to build from.
When you didn't know, we presented you the information here.
With your help, you will see just how much of a difference we will make. Believe us when we say;
We haven't even begun...
The Hive Effect
TIME HAS RUN OUT - IT IS TIME TO STAND OUR GROUND
We know that we, as a civilisation, must make this work. Here at The Hive Effect we know how to make this work, without it costing the earth.
If all that Sandwell Council can see are pound signs, and it is pound signs that they want, then it is pounds that they shall have, but houses or not, from that moment in time, they shall never walk these lands with their heads held high, ever again.
The Change Has Come.
They're in or they are out.
Free Water
Situated on the side of the River Tame, Brandhall Golf Course & Bee Sixty-Eight have access to all of the water they will ever need to sustain not only the plots, but to the wider surrounding areas. What's more is that the water that re-enters the water table will be cleaner than when it left the source! Managed, maintained, monitored water.
Food For All
Food. We don't need to go into detail about the global food chain but mentioning the cost, the shortage, and the demand is something that affects us at a local level. The Hive Effect can alleviate some of those problems by making fresh produce available to local people who may never have had access to such produce before.
This IS Food For All - so Join In and dig in!
Next Level Education
For the engineers out there, for the inventors and the problem solvers, we have some projects to whet your appetite too. They are all very hush right now but all will be revealed at our launch. It may turn out that you have an idea that is the best idea ever and you want to shout about it. Contact us by pressing the button below.
IT IS LOUDER IF WE SHOUT TOGETHER.
Interested Parties
Our ideas have attracted so much attention from local businesses keen to explore our ideas further. These businesses are amongst the best in their fields and they like what we're doing.
And we thought we had some interesting concepts!
Call back when we launch and all will be revealed.
If you have an idea or you have thought to yourself "why hasn't anyone tried this before", then contact us by pressing the button below to get heard.
There Are Boundaries
The land is triangle in shape with borders to the railway embankment n the NW, a tree-lined border and the River Tame to the NE, and Penncricket Lane is to the South. The railway embankment boundary is protected entirely by an 8ft steel palisade fence. The Penncricket Lane boundary is a 5ft green mesh wire fence with godfather posts and a hawthorn hedge. The boundary to the river tame, has no defined border or fence, however, there is a row of trees/ bushes and shrubs that give an idea of the boundary line.
Help us to save this open space along with other important spaces within our communities by pressing the button below.
